BLUEPRINTS (SELECT 1)
Food Production- Barn (Increases food production by 2%)
Silver Production- Panning (Increase Silver by 1%)
Iron Production- Panning (Increase Iron by 1%)
Wood Production- Axe (Increase wood production by 2%)
Defense- Small Wall (Increase defense by 2%)
Medicine- First Aid (Decrease Mortality by 1%)

Is there any sort of tribute due, like last time?

Apologies if I am not allowed to ask a question here, but is there a guide for how to play?

Just so it's all in one thread
From GM (CB):

Dear Councilmen,

I write you on behalf of our lord the king. Soon, you embark on the journey of a lifetime, to establish the first colony in the new world. Our grand kingdom of Classica has for too long been disrespected by those heathens in the Playdipian Empire. In your journey you offer the prospect of not only great wealth and a bright future for our kingdom but will yourselves go down in history. I offer you some warnings. The first ships to sail along the new worlds coast reported barbaric groups of men dressed in skins and adorned with body art too grotesque for us to describe. The men shouted and threw their primitive weapons at our ships to no success. I also warn of the dangers of crossing the open ocean with Playdipian ships lurking.

Your first order of business as councilmen will be to establish your governing charter. The king wishes to give you autonomy, and as such had only one condition for your initial charter- It must be agreed upon by a majority of your peers. I will ask one of you to volunteer as temporary scribe to record your charter for me to deliver to our esteemed king.

Your second order of business will be to decide which items, experts, and resources you wish to bring with you and how much. The ship does have limited space. The king has instructed me to offer you 6 of his best experts of which you may only pick 3, and has instructed me to offer you 6 basic blueprints for which you can collect resources and then build upon arrival.

I thank you again for your sacrifice to the greater good of Classica, and wish you well on your voyage.

Lord Byron the Reliable - Official Advisor to the Crown.


(Going forward all correspondence outside of the parenthesis will be in character as your Advisor to the Crown, or your various experts. Anything within parenthesis will be considered just regular old smallpox loving me, telling you about dates, timing, or game mechanic issues or solutions. Below I have detailed the rules for play and I hope that this is as much fun for all of you as I am sure it will be for me.)

Each turn will have a time limit, in which whomever you choose through your charter to lead your colony will have to make a decision or register the final vote for a decision. If no decision is made it will be assumed that no action was taken and the game will progress.

A player wishing to exit the game should notify the gamemaster in a PM, and will be escorted off of the colony until they can return.

To join the game or return simply PM the gamemaster and he will notify you of the date you will be announced as arriving back on the colony.

For simplicity and ease of moderation resources will be kept simple: Food, Silver, Wood, Ore, Knowledge, and eventually Oil.

Every turn which will last 6 days ,with a day for moderation between decisions and adjudication, and within that turn players must decide how to handle their resources, how to invest their knowledge, and what to request from the Classica.

Requests will be granted every other turn so a request placed in Turn 5 will arrive in Turn 7. Plan ahead and be prepared for things not to go your way.

Players can be executed or removed from the Island. If every other player votes in favor of the action it will be done.

The technology tree can only be upgraded once per turn and will cost an ever increasing amount of Knowledge.

Your experts can be called upon for discussion and questioning but be aware that they are not at your whim and see themselves as non-voting councilmen. They will respond when they like, and how they like. Happy experts provide better information.

There is no mandate as of now from the king. However the more silver and other resources you send the more likely you are to receive your resupply requests. (You may ask questions here, and if they are mechanic related I'll respond in parentheses. The guide is simple establish your charter among yourselves and select from the lists of experts and blueprints provided, resources are pretty straightforward. iron, wood, are building materials, food and health maintain your population, silver is the monetary system and item of value, and knowledge which you won't have to worry about until arriving is the system for learning new blueprints and upgrading your colony.)

In theory councilmen you will establish how you play. If your charter demands a super majority of voting then that is fine. If Your charter establishes various roles for yourselves in which you each manage different decisions that is also fine. However you wish to govern the king Is granting autonomy.

Wait... We need to maintain our population?

Are we starting now, or still waiting?

Esteemed Councillors,

We shall soon set forth to a new land and hopefully we shall claim this land for our nation, Classica!

While the hour grows late I shall endeavor to return to this discussion in the morning. We shall write a charter and select three of the King's experts for our journey to the new world!

Councilor Falcon, I was responding to one of your peers who asked what each resource would do. When you arrive you will be responsible for maintaining a certain level of food for maintaining your population and until you upgrade your health your mortality rate will stay very high (a figure I can not divulge until you land) You will not arrive on the colony until 4/18 unless the council can complete all their preparations for launch early and request an early departure.

I know, I wasn't mocking you. Sorry if it seemed like it. :P

Councilor Peregrine, i did not take it as such, I was just clarifying. I am taking all questions at face value so I know I answered them all and didn;t miss anyones questions.

Basic points I think should be in our charter:

Limited forms of autonomy
Checks and balances
Leader of the council - methods of choosing, term limits
System of governance
???

Dear Councilors I may add that the king does require a single person responsible for atleast informing I of your choices. In essence a speaker of sorts to streamline the process of advancement.

Dear Councilors,

What a joy it is to be planning this journey with you! (to say nothing of escaping the debtors at home...)

I completely agree with Councilor King Cyrus, in his suggestions for the charter, merely to start the ball rolling... some thoughts.
- Leader of the council to be elected by simple majority vote, each leader must nominate themselves and have a second
- Leader of the council to act as speaker to the king
- Election to last for two terms before re-election (no limit on number of terms a leader can remain in charge if re-elected)
- Leader can be impeached by a super majority of votes (perhaps 3/4 of councilors?)

I believe decisions should be made on a vote of councilors. Each vote should be given a period of at least 24hrs with the elected leader having the equivalent of 2 votes.

All just thoughts for discussion....

Councilors, does anyone have time to take the position of scribe? I think it would be good for us to resolve that issue before we begin trying to write a charter.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time at the moment.


Some ideas for charter
- Limit the amount of people who have final vote to 7
- Have Secretary positions for each blueprint
- Create a function that will allow for quick emergency decisions
- Have a Council President and two houses
House #1 (food production, silver production, medicine)
House #2 (iron production, wood production, military)
Council Pres (included in this group: scribe/speaker & Pres's choice for VP)
--each house has three person leadership group who along with Council Pres make final decisions
--before final vote allow for open time where any councilor is free to speak his mind or share idea
--each new councilor declares which house and blueprint they'd like to represent
--each house votes for it's own leadership
--all councilors vote for president
--transfers from one house to another accomplished by 2/3 vote from each house leadership group

At the same time, we need to discuss who we want as our experts.

I would certainly go with Farmer Franz over Rancher Ross.

1) Age. Experts who may die in transit or upon arrival are very risky.
2) Primitive cultures tend to be hunter-gatherers. That they were witnessed throwing spears leads me to believe there will be large animals to hunt.
3) Having organized farming first will make it easier to feed livestock.

I agree. There is also:
Sir Charles or Father Julius
Admiral Banton or Lieutenant Troop

On the last I'm really thinking Banton because, while Banton is very likely older, he has better defense experience and we don't have to pay him.

Theoretically we could double up our experts in one category and pick one from another, but I see no reason to do that.

I agree with you on Banton, Tr. Having him will also help us on our voyage at sea, unlike an army lieutenant.

Part of the reason I was thinking that we could have Secretaries for each blueprint is so the experts can report directly to them instead of the council at large or the President (unless asked to do so). Particularly with Banton, keeping them under the level of councilor and at least two steps away from the President could suppress any desire they may have to try and take over.

I think we'd be best served not doubling up.

In a primitive culture, doctors and/or people with medical knowledge are sometimes viewed as being a magician of sorts. Helping to heal those heathen's sick could help us make inroads with them.

I'm still undecided on whether the doctor or Father would be best for that though.

Greetings, fellow settlers.

Firstly with regard to selecting experts, I would strongly urge the selection of Sir Charles over Father Julius. The Priest's focus on the religious conversion of the natives would prove a needless distraction and could cause conflict with them.

For blueprints I would favour the Silver Panning blueprint.

I add my vote to those calling for Admiral Banton to be selected, as well.

Good day fellow Councilman Jamie.

On my own I would agree with you the choice of Doctor over Father, as I myself lean heavier on the sciences than faith. But, let us remember that Julius will be a help to sooth our own settler's fears, and comfort them when loved ones are lost. Also, if we have an official religion, is it not part of our duty to help spread the word as well?

I submit that we have the opportunity to decide what our duty is.

I agree Jamie, and the King did not require us to bring a man of the cloth, but if our settler's are religious it may behoove us to bring someone who can help heal them and comfort them. He also is less likely to die of old age before landing.

I would be against trying to convert natives at the start even if Julius is selected.

Either way, I will abide by what we the council decide as a group.

My choices so far:

Farmer Fritz
Admiral Banton
Father Julius

Food Production Blueprint (Well fed people work more efficiently than hungry ones, and I think our first goal should be assuring our survival)

Anywho, writing the charter is going to be the hard part.

@ LBtR: do you have any information on the skills and professions of the settlers who are making the journey? Knowing their strengths and weaknesses could help us to make wiser decisions.